Category Archives: Mac OS X

Let’s face it, emptying the trash is just not very exciting. You hated it when you were a kid, and you don’t like doing it much more now as an adult. However, it’s one of those things that simply has to be done from time to time.

You probably know that all deleted items on the Mac end up in the Trash, and that you can Empty the Trash (delete its contents) by going to Finder > Empty Trash. However, this process is admittedly slow and agonizing, just like when you were a kid.

One easy way to save time is to empty the Trash right from the Dock. To do so, simply select the Trash (two finger tap on a touchpad or control + click with a mouse), and a short menu then appears from which you can Open or Empty Trash. If you want to Secure Empty Trash, simply hold down the Command key when selecting it.

Attorneys should generally be utilizing OS X’s Secure Empty Trash feature, which erases files more securely by writing random patterns of data over a trashed file immediately after it has been emptied. By way of contrast, the standard Empty Trash command leaves information susceptible to being recovered with special utility software. With sensitive client data, the safest way is always the best way. I hope these trash tips for OS X are helpful to you.

Ever get busy working on projects, only to later realize that you have numerous Finder windows open? Has your desktop ever looked like the one at right? Cluttered and confusing, isn’t it? Don’t worry, it happens to the best of us from time to time.

Fortunately, this situation is extremely easy to cure. To combine the Finder windows, go to the menu bar and select Window > Merge All Windows. You will then have one Finder window with several tabs. This trick is particularly helpful when you have Finder windows open on multiple screens.

The Library folder in Mac OS X contains a variety of important files, settings, preferences, caches, and many specific files that are required for apps to run as intended. To prevent novice users from inflicting unintended changes or harm, recent versions of OS X (including Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks) hide this folder by default.

Though hidden, the user’s Library folder has still been relatively easy to access. To do so, simply go to Finder, click on the Go menu, and press the Option key, which reveals the Library folder. There are still a variety of other ways to access this folder as well.

However, with the release of OS X 10.9 Mavericks, Mac users can once again permanently show the User Library folder via the following steps:

In Finder, open a new window and go to your Home folder (or hit Command + Shift + H to instantly go there)

On the View menu, select “Show View Options” (or hit Command + J)

Check the box for “Show Library Folder” and then close the View Options panel

The Library folder is now visible when you navigate to your Home folder. Note, you must be in your Home folder to see the “Show Library Folder” selection in View Options. Also, please be aware that this setting will remain permanent and the Library folder will remain visible until and unless you uncheck the “Show View Options” checkbox.

When you are using multiple apps, Mac OS X Mavericks can tell when an app is completely hidden behind other windows, and it utilizes a process called App Zap to automatically suspend inactive ones in order to help you save power.

In other words, if an app is not currently doing something for you, like downloading a file, playing music, checking email, etc., App Nap conserves valuable battery life by slowing the app down. However, your app will seamlessly and instantly shift back to full speed as soon as you start to use it again.

The result is a dramatic reduction in their system resources usage and energy consumption. How dramatic? Apple claims that App Nap can reduce CPU energy use by up to 23 percent, resulting in longer battery life. You can click here to learn about the other ways that Mavericks increases battery efficiency and boosts performance to help your Mac work smarter, not harder.

If you are not getting the battery life that you expect out of your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, this tip is for you. OS X now enables you to quickly and easily see which apps are draining your battery.

Click on the battery icon, and after a moment, it will display which apps are using significant energy (as shown at right). If your expected usage exceeds the battery life remaining, you can quit the app, finish the process, close the browser tab that’s hogging resources, etc.

Did you know that you can easily reveal where a document is saved by right-clicking (or command + click) on the document’s icon in the top of your window? Of course, you can always easily locate your document (or virtually anything else) using Spotlight, but sometimes this method is faster and easier.

Cloud computing technology has been making serious headway in the past few years. Most of those endeavors have been on the “back end,” allowing businesses to create and implement scalable solutions that rely on third-party, Internet-based providers. The legal field, however, has sometimes been resistant to these technologies. A variety of concerns – primarily those involving security – have kept many cloud solutions at bay.

With the advent of Apple’s iCloud, however, the legal field may not be able to hold out much longer. While iCloud isn’t necessarily revolutionary in what it does, it comes at an auspicious time. Consumer cloud computing solutions have been gaining rapid acceptance, as evidenced by the rapid growth of DropBox. iCloud has the potential to bring cloud computing to the masses.

Personal use drives business use

Over and over again in the history of technology, we’ve seen as personal use of technology tends to drive business use. The situation with iCloud is likely to be similar. Once people (including those in the legal field) get used to accessing all of their personal data from many locations with many different devices, they’ll want to be able to do so with their work data, as well.

Security concerns and iCloud

This, then, is raising concerns about security for many in the field. There are at least three major security questions iCloud brings to the fore, including:

How do cloud solutions impact confidentiality? If a third party – in the case of iCloud, this would be Apple – is hosting your client files, can the data be considered secure and confidential? Will this kind of storage meet legal challenges to confidentiality?

How can timestamped data be captured in the cloud? For example, when you’re talking about an iCloud file, you can see the file changed from one moment to the next. How will businesses capture specific time-related data? This is particularly relevant for issues like e-discovery.

How does iCloud security compare to existing security? The fact of the matter is that many businesses – even those involved in legal issues – have relatively poor security. That might be at the desktop level, the network level, or both. Does iCloud and related technologies actually offer a more secure environment than the status quo?

How the legal field fits in

Many in the legal field may be resistant to this emerging technology. This would be a mistake, as there’s plenty of potential for those in legal to make a positive impact on the cloud computing trend. Specifically, legal professionals can:

Become educated about security technologies. By gaining an understanding of how things like encryption function in the iCloud environment, you can better analyze a given solution.

Identify ways that cloud solutions can meet legal requirements. In addition, legal firms can help to identify how regulatory requirements can be met, and how the cloud can be made to be more friendly to e-discovery and related processes.

Whether or not iCloud gains widespread use, one thing is certain: those in the legal field can’t afford to ignore cloud technology. It’s time to get out at the forefront, and make sure the tech meets all of the important legal requirements that you and your clients need to meet.

About the Author: Eric Greenwood is an information and online storage technology expert whose advice is sought after by friends and strangers alike – Read more of his work on his blog, Online Storage!

With all the discussion about encryption and security, I asked Mac consultant (and MILO member), Matthew Bookspan, to write the following Guest Post, which I hope my readers enjoy and find helpful:

Whole Disk Encryption & OS X Lion

First, this is an exciting feature of OS X Lion for business users. I have opined about this feature before in a previous post. However, let’s state the facts: whole disk encryption ensures business users that their data is more secure than in previous releases of the operating system.

Second, let’s get an understanding of what whole disk encryption means for everyone. Security always sounds great, although it has lots of uncertainty. We’ll use the definition from Wikipedia:

Originally, we had planned to write a “how-to.” However, Apple has done a better job in articulating the setup steps in this knowledge base article. Further, in the Ars Technica review of OS X Lion, there is another great example of how to enable this feature.

Instead, we are going to focus on how you will use whole disk encryption in your daily tasks.

Before we articulate the usage, there is a key missing item from Apple’s article: time to setup. Yes, it takes time (a lot of it) to enable this feature within OS X Lion.

Let’s articulate the time in detail:

Initial setup (not migrating from FileVault v1): about 10-15mins

Encryption time: on a brand-new install of OS X Lion, with no additional applications installed, it took just over two hours to enable whole disk encryption on a three year old iMac. This time could decrease or increase based upon your system.

Using FileVault 2: Performance impacts

Once you have Filevault 2 enabled, you will not notice any performance changes. Whether it is real or a matter of perception, your files feel like they open just as fast. Your apps launch without any additional delay. Your backups via Time Machine work the same, etc.

Upon system boot, you will be prompted to login, as you must authenticate with your username and password, even if you previously did not enable this authentication.

Using FileVault 2: Security Benefits

By enabling whole disk encryption, you are adding a new level of security to your Mac. All of your data is now secured using XTS-AES 128 encryption. To translate from technical gobbledygook – this is pretty darn secure.

Utilizing whole disk encryption via FileVault 2 will ensure that if your computer is lost or stolen, your data will not be retrievable. For those with sensitive client data (or business data), utilizing this feature is fundamental to your business security.

Summary

We didn’t spend any time talking about migrating from FileVault v1 to v2 because that is handled in Apple’s Support article mentioned above. Nevertheless, the significant security and performance improvements provided with this whole disk encryption feature is essentially a complete win-win for business users.

If there are any gotchas – there are two:

DO NOT LOSE YOUR SECURITY KEY.

DO NOT FORGET YOUR PASSWORD.

Sorry for the yelling, although we wanted to make sure that you received the message loud and clear. 🙂

Of course, if you want to learn more about FileVault 2/whole disk encryption and security, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us here at Blacktip.

About the Author: Matthew Bookspan is the Chief Shark at Blacktip IT Services, an Apple Consulting firm based in Orlando, FL. He’s written this post to to help us learn more about OS X Lion Security and has not recieved compensation for it.

(Note: This article was updated on July 27, 2011, after it’s original publication on July 25, 2011.)